All We Need
by PacificRomance
Summary: I should have been chasing you, I should have been trying to prove that you were all that mattered to me.


A/N: I was going to end this after the second section, but there is so much angst surrounding this fandom right now that I needed the hope for a happy ending.

Inspired by "All We'd Ever Need" by Lady Antebellum.

…..

It had been months since they had broken up, but she still couldn't stop thinking about him. She still had his photograph hidden in her drawer; she still wore his shirt to bed. She would bury her face in the fabric, imagining she could still smell his distinct scent, even though she knew it had faded long ago.

Everyone thought she was doing fine; that she had moved on from him, but that couldn't be further from the truth. She still woke up with tears in her eyes and wished that things had turned out differently.

She knew she was the one to end things between them, but she wished he had put up a fight. She wished he had chased after her and tried to prove just how perfect they were together. She wished he had come and tried to explain himself, just one more time. She would have listened. He could have convinced her.

But he didn't. Instead he went off to Europe, found someone else, and brought her back to New York with him.

…

Everyone thought he had moved on with his new girlfriend. They all thought that he had healed his broken heart and found love with someone else.

But that wasn't even close to the truth. No one could see through his mask, but underneath it all he wasn't nearly as strong as he pretended to be. She was still at the forefront of his mind all the time. He could still remember every conversation they had together, every touch, every kiss. He even had a box of her things hidden in the back of his closet that he couldn't bear to part with.

He had so many regrets about the way things ended. He shouldn't have done what he did, but he also shouldn't have just let her go without a fight. He should have chased after her again. He should have proved to her that they were really inevitable, just like he had always claimed. He should have just poured his heart out to her and shown her just how sorry he was for everything he had ever done to her. He should have shown her how much she meant to him.

Even though he wanted to check in on her more than he had ever wanted anything, he wouldn't do it. He had heard through his family that she was doing well, and as long as she was happy he would find some way to get through. He would maintain his calm, collected, happily-adjusted façade even when his soul was screaming out for her presence.

He realized now that she was all he would ever need. He didn't need the Empire or his money or his reputation. Without her it was all pointless. Without her he wasn't even really Chuck Bass.

…

He ran into her at a party. It wasn't expected, it wasn't planned, but he couldn't lie and say it wasn't welcome. He _needed_ to talk to her, like he needed to breathe. He had deprived himself of her for too long and as soon as he realized she was in the same room as him, it was like a breath of cool, fresh air after being submerged underwater, suddenly everything was crisp and clear and he realized the full extent of what he had been missing without her.

While his girlfriend talked to some acquaintances of theirs, he excused himself and sat by her at the bar.

Her martini froze half way to her lips as she looked at him wearily, "What are you doing, Bass? Where is your girlfriend?"

"She's occupied." He said, getting straight to the point, "Can we talk?"

She sighed and looked around them, "Chuck, I don't know…"

"Please, Blair, just give me ten minutes. I need to talk to you."

She looked into his eyes and saw the pleading in them before she nodded and slowly rose to her feet, "Ten minutes. That's it."

He smirked slightly as he followed her out of the party and into a nearby empty room.

She walked to the far side of the room as he closed the door quietly behind him. After a moment she turned to him with her arms crossed over her chest, "So what did you want to talk about?"

He cleared his throat and looked away from her for the first significant length of time that evening. "Blair…" He said softly before he lifted his eyes to hers once more.

She saw it all in his eyes; the pain, the regret, and the love.

Her eyes widened and she shook her head as she took an involuntary step backwards, "No, Chuck. You-, you have a girlfriend. You moved on. You're happy."

"But I'm not." He said as he took a few steps forward, "You should know that better than anyone. This is all an act." He was standing in front of her as he took her hands in his, "I never should have let you go. I know you're better off without me now, but I wanted you to know how much I regret not fighting harder for us. I know that if I had just put in more effort I would have been able to make you see that what we had was all either of us would ever need."

She blinked back tears before she removed her hands from his and turned to look out the window, "You don't know how long I have waited to hear you say that. For so long, I wished that you had just-," She shook her head sadly, "But now you have a girlfriend. You can't-"

"Yes I can, Blair." He said as he moved towards her again and placed his hands on her hips, "She means nothing, everyone else means nothing compared to you. I would give up everything if it meant I could have you again."

She tried to step away from him, but he kept his hands firmly on her hips as he continued, "I'm breaking up with her tonight."

"Chuck-" She began warningly before he cut her off.

"I am going to do it whether you agree to be with me or not. Seeing you tonight made me realize that I can't keep pretending that I am perfectly okay with how everything ended between us, because I'm not."

He kissed her forehead before he released her and walked across the room. With his hand on the door he turned back to her with the trademark smirk that he hadn't sported in almost a year, "I'm not going to stop chasing you this time. I'm going to keep fighting until you give in to the magnetic pull that will always be between us."

Blair sent him a slight smile as he left the room. She was thinking about how _that_ was the Chuck Bass she knew and loved. She hadn't realized just how much she had missed him.


End file.
